The Coroner by M. R. Hall
Feb. 11th, 2009 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Jenny Cooper - freshly divorced and recovering from a minor breakdown - is now the coroner for the Severn Vale. As she embarks on her new life, she cannot escape the demons of her past ...
As she struggles to find her fet, Jenny's curiosity is quickly aroused by the previous coroner's puzzling behaviour prior to his death. What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart? Jenny is determined to investigate further, but in the face of sinister bureaucratic resistance and aggressive journalists, how much pressure can she cope with? And how much will she be forced to sacrifice in search of the truth?
Jenny Cooper is the newly appointed coroner for the Severn Vales (an area near Bristol). An experienced family lawyer, she suffered a breakdown after her controlling surgeon husband asked for a divorce and got custody of their teenage son. Now she needs tranquilisers to get through the day and took the job to try and make a new, stress-free life for herself, only to find that her predecessor appears to have made several procedural errors regarding the death in youth custody of a teenage boy that was ruled a suicide and the apparent drug overdose of another teenage girl. As she decides whether to reopen the boy's inquiry, she finds herself caught between a range of political forces, including the local authority, the Justice Ministry and the private company that runs the young offender's institution where the boy died, while also battling to retain her emotional stability with her bullying husband who has taken a younger lover, and her growing feelings for her drop-out neighbour, Steve.
Given the number of crime novels out there told from the POV of the police, pathologists, criminologists, criminal lawyers, and crime scene investigators it's refreshing to read one that looks at one of the most ancient of English legal roles - the coroner. A screenwriter and tv producer, Hall has clearly done his evidence and I found the details about the coroner's authority and role (including to act as investigator of the facts) to be an interesting one and the political mine field of serving as a coroner (falling as they do between central and local government), sets up some good tension.
Although the story is a little slow to get going, once it does it moves along quickly from scene to scene, incorporating Jenny's personal and professional life and struggles to keep the two together. Unfortunately though, much of Jenny's personal life seems cliche - she's basically another successful woman unable to juggle home and work and who on some level resents her pig of a husband while also needing his approval. Even the romantic element with Steve, a drop-out architect who does odd jobs has a forced feel to it and her neediness gets tiresome at times. There's an obvious question as to how a woman hooked on tranquilisers to get through the day and who sometimes seems emotionally erratic can do her job effectively - Hall does have her ask inciteful questions when the plot requires it, but she's equally likely to have an emotional outburst for the same reasons. At the beginning and towards the end there are some therapy scenes that suggest her problems are due to a repressed childhood trauma. Doubtless this will be drawn out in the series, but it's something that the character could really do without.
Hall packs a little too much conspiracy into this novel and the sub-plots relating to local journalist Tara Collins and the possible pressure brought to bear on Jenny's predecessor both lacked credibility. Indeed, the plot strains a great deal under the weight of its different strands in its final quarter and there were times when Hall really needed to dial back the forces opposing Cooper's investigation. However, the book does hold the interest and there is clearly a lot of potential for the series going forward. This is one crime writer who I would be interested to read more from.
The Verdict:
Although the plot is slightly over-convoluted at times and I could do with the central character being less of a stereotypical career-woman-unable-to-cope, the idea of having a crime thriller told from the perspective of a coroner has a great deal of potential, particularly the political elements of it and the pacing was good enough to keep me turning the pages. I'd be interested in reading more from the author.
Jenny Cooper - freshly divorced and recovering from a minor breakdown - is now the coroner for the Severn Vale. As she embarks on her new life, she cannot escape the demons of her past ...
As she struggles to find her fet, Jenny's curiosity is quickly aroused by the previous coroner's puzzling behaviour prior to his death. What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart? Jenny is determined to investigate further, but in the face of sinister bureaucratic resistance and aggressive journalists, how much pressure can she cope with? And how much will she be forced to sacrifice in search of the truth?
Jenny Cooper is the newly appointed coroner for the Severn Vales (an area near Bristol). An experienced family lawyer, she suffered a breakdown after her controlling surgeon husband asked for a divorce and got custody of their teenage son. Now she needs tranquilisers to get through the day and took the job to try and make a new, stress-free life for herself, only to find that her predecessor appears to have made several procedural errors regarding the death in youth custody of a teenage boy that was ruled a suicide and the apparent drug overdose of another teenage girl. As she decides whether to reopen the boy's inquiry, she finds herself caught between a range of political forces, including the local authority, the Justice Ministry and the private company that runs the young offender's institution where the boy died, while also battling to retain her emotional stability with her bullying husband who has taken a younger lover, and her growing feelings for her drop-out neighbour, Steve.
Given the number of crime novels out there told from the POV of the police, pathologists, criminologists, criminal lawyers, and crime scene investigators it's refreshing to read one that looks at one of the most ancient of English legal roles - the coroner. A screenwriter and tv producer, Hall has clearly done his evidence and I found the details about the coroner's authority and role (including to act as investigator of the facts) to be an interesting one and the political mine field of serving as a coroner (falling as they do between central and local government), sets up some good tension.
Although the story is a little slow to get going, once it does it moves along quickly from scene to scene, incorporating Jenny's personal and professional life and struggles to keep the two together. Unfortunately though, much of Jenny's personal life seems cliche - she's basically another successful woman unable to juggle home and work and who on some level resents her pig of a husband while also needing his approval. Even the romantic element with Steve, a drop-out architect who does odd jobs has a forced feel to it and her neediness gets tiresome at times. There's an obvious question as to how a woman hooked on tranquilisers to get through the day and who sometimes seems emotionally erratic can do her job effectively - Hall does have her ask inciteful questions when the plot requires it, but she's equally likely to have an emotional outburst for the same reasons. At the beginning and towards the end there are some therapy scenes that suggest her problems are due to a repressed childhood trauma. Doubtless this will be drawn out in the series, but it's something that the character could really do without.
Hall packs a little too much conspiracy into this novel and the sub-plots relating to local journalist Tara Collins and the possible pressure brought to bear on Jenny's predecessor both lacked credibility. Indeed, the plot strains a great deal under the weight of its different strands in its final quarter and there were times when Hall really needed to dial back the forces opposing Cooper's investigation. However, the book does hold the interest and there is clearly a lot of potential for the series going forward. This is one crime writer who I would be interested to read more from.
The Verdict:
Although the plot is slightly over-convoluted at times and I could do with the central character being less of a stereotypical career-woman-unable-to-cope, the idea of having a crime thriller told from the perspective of a coroner has a great deal of potential, particularly the political elements of it and the pacing was good enough to keep me turning the pages. I'd be interested in reading more from the author.
